2011 Commencement speaker announced: Judy Woodruff

On Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12, Commencement will be held for the members of the Class of 2011. This year’s Commencement Speaker will be award-winning broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff.

Woodruff has reported on presidential elections for the past thirty-five years and will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters from Union. She formerly worked as an anchor for the weekday CNN program “Inside Politics.”

Additionally, she anchored the award-winning PBS series “Frontline with Judy Woodruff” for sixteen years.

Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation. She is the author of the memoir This is Judy Woodruff at the White House.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Union’s status as a co-educational institution and Woodruff’s speech will complement the college’s year-long effort to promote womens’ contributions to the school throughout the past few decades.

In addition to Woodruff, the college will award poet Marvin Bell with an honorary doctor of letters. English professor Jordan Smith, who was Bell’s former thesis student at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, recommended him for this award.

The schedule for Saturday, June 11 will include a Baccalaureate Commemoration at 4:30 p.m., Baccalaureate Mass at 6 p.m., and the annual Garnet Gala, which will begin at 8 p.m. On Sunday, June 12, the Academic Procession will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Commencement Ceremony at 10 a.m. Departmental Receptions will follow the Commencement Ceremony.